Built around a 300 KN, 6000 punch press, a system at Wilson Tool includes a five tower warehousing system with 110 pallets and a capacity for 900 tonnes of steel sheets 1,500 mm wide by 3000 mm long.

Some two years ago Wilson Tool International of Swindon wereparcelling up for despatch three sets of its patented WilsonWheel Tool System, toolholders and dozens of slitting tools,countersink tools, special form tools, Multi-tools and a host ofstandard punches and dies. The tooling package worth some 80,000(pounds sterling) was destined to fill the 472 stations on a new750,000 (pounds sterling) flexible manufacturing (FMS) for sheetmetal components developed by punch press specialist Pullmax forMidland Sheet Metal of Merry Lees, Leicestershire. Built around a300 KN, 500 hits/min 6000 punch press, the system includes a fivetower Remmert material warehousing system with 110 pallets and acapacity for 900 tonnes of steel sheets 1,500 mm wide by 3,000 mmlong.

The system also includes an ETM extended tool magazine withrobot loading and software for programming and nesting,production scheduling and tool management.

Such was theimportance of the system to Midland Sheet Metal's futureplans that according to Chris Buck, manufacturing manager:'The investment in tooling was high on the critical list tomaximise productivity and gain the most strategic advantage ofminimum manning.

The concept was that the tool set up shouldnever need breaking down, only updating for any totally newcomponents or new tool developments.' One of Midland SheetMetal's major advantages in the market had been a veryeffective cell based production strategy formed around turretpunch presses, press brakes and manual welding booths linked tospecific customers but the management team felt by increasingautomation in the business higher levels of productivity, andhence improved competitiveness, would be achieved.

As a resultand following a year of investigation, Midland Sheet Metalinstalled the largest sheet metal FMS in the UK.

'But moreimportant,' maintains Chris Buck 'is our capability tobe highly competitive on any type of punching job customers canthrow at us giving both efficiency and very cost-effectiveproduction with almost guaranteed quality.' Built around aPullmax 6000 punch press, the system includes robot toolexchange, total material warehousing and material handling fromthe basic sheet to component stacking and disposal of wastage andskeletons.

The new installation is able to provide the sameoutput as four CNC turret punch presses and has allowed 10operators to be moved onto other projects as the system proved tohave the capability to produce parts within two hours that wouldhave previously taken four times as long.

'It's notabout cycle times,' argues Chris Buck, who was responsiblefor selection, justification and commissioning of the system.'It's about planning of material, tooling andprogramming.

If we plan correctly we get utilisation figures of95 per cent and fill a large skip with blanks every 24 hours.

Ifwe don't, the system becomes a white elephant.'Breaking down the justification process he reckons half the yearwas spent on machine details and a massive 40 per cent on toolingselection, development and application.

'So important wastooling on the 'essential to do' list that very earlyon we formed a strategic partnership with Wilson ToolInternational of Swindon that ended up with the 80,000 (poundssterling) tool package being supplied.' Although initiallyother tool vendors were in the running.

Wilson's concept of'partnership' involved a close working relationship tocover the options of what could be made on the system.

Here,development of special tooling, the use of Wilson's patented'Optima' coating, its 2•4•1 tooling system, givingdouble the regrind life, and in-depth training courses involvingtool management, refurbishing and perfecting tool performance,were key elements.

The Pullmax system has a total of 472 toolstations, fifteen positions are available in the machine turretof which four are taken up by Wilson's own Multi-toolsystems able to accommodate six tools each.

Three levels of theextended tool magazine hold 15 punches and dies which arepre-empted and exchanged with the machine turret by the twin-armrobot arm without interrupting the punching cycle.

The turret topunching head exchange takes just four seconds.

Special toolsabound which effectively combine operations.

These are used toproduce knockouts, special forms and progressive louvre toolsplus the patented Wilson Wheel Tool system for 2 mm, 1.5 m and1.2 mm sheet thickness.

In addition, sister tools such as thoseused for slitting enable some 250,000 hits to be performed ineight hours of unmanned running.

Lost time awaiting tooling hassubsequently been eliminated.

During the day the setter checksout the planning order of jobs which can involve up to 40different orders.

The programs are compared against tool listingby the software and the control warns if a tool is not availableor that hit rate required will exceed the programmed tool lifedata.

At night, and through weekends the system runs unattendedand Chris Buck has electronic access to check at any time throughthe Internet the current machine status and even rescheduleproduction if priorities change.

Also via autodialing, if themachine goes into alarm, it will call him on his mobile and if heis not available, transfers the call to the setter's mobilephone to warn of the problem.

The working relationship betweenMidland Sheet Metal and Wilson Tool has proved beneficial foroperational security as all tools are Optima coated which enablestool life between regrinds to be extended by some 500 per cent.As Chris Buck confirms from the tool monitoring software, afterover two years of continuous production, the same tools, althoughreground, are still in use and the previous normal 25,000 (poundssterling) replacement tool bill for some 15,000 hours of punchinghas been reduced to under 2,000 (pounds sterling) with the newway of working.

Chris Buck concludes that as a result of MidlandSheet Metal and Wilson Tool working together on special tools andprototype testing to achieve the most cost-effective method theyare able to target highly efficient 'one-hit' cycleworking.

'Wilson Tool performs a justification service to usfrom our component drawing on any new special tool and works outthe most cost-effective solution.

A prime example is a recentexercise for producing 25,000 point of sale brackets.

From thesupplied breakdown of costs we were able to easily compare toolcost and cycle time for standard tooling against having a specialand to quickly make a decision,' he says.